1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to buoyancy weights used for attaining neutral buoyancy during sub-surface swimming activities and more particularly to such a weight and a weight system that provides improved features for weight dropping.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Lindell, U.S. Pat. No. D542368, discloses a design for a diving weight.
Carmichael, U.S. 2002/0067955, discloses an active control releasable ballast system for dive equipment which in one embodiment includes a removable pocket that is secured with a side release buckle within a fixed pocket. The buckle is required to be opened before the weight contained in the pocket can be dropped or given to another individual in or out of the water. Thus, the release of the weights is a conscious and deliberate act.
Schuler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,488, discloses a divers weight that is secured to the belt in a manner that enables quick and easy weight changes. The weights are retained by a case having protruding ribs which grab the belt so as to prevent the weights from sliding or shifting on the belt.
Perla, U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,525, discloses a divers weight belt that is formed from a single piece of laminated material having closed cell foam neoprene covered on each side with stretchable fabric. A plurality of rectangular pockets are formed along the belt to hold standard rectangular lead diving weights. An upward extending flap of the material is provided with Velcro® closure material and the outer surfaces of the pockets provided with mating Velcro® closure material to permit closing of the pockets. Two ends of the belt project from the pockets and are provided with Velcro® closure material. The diver places a belt with desired weights inserted in the pockets around his waist with the pocket flap contacting his weight and closes the belt by engaging the Velcro® ends. In an emergency, the belt can be quickly dropped by ripping the ends apart.
Selisky, U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,270, discloses a diving weight for scuba and other divers that is particularly designed to hold the weight in conformance to the diver's body and including a surface finish to prevent or substantially eliminate marring and scratching of the same. Belt receiving slots are provided along the length of the weight with a spacing formulation to hold the weight and maintain the attachment belt in close conformance to the user's body. The slots and weight are designed to allow the belt to pass from a recessed interior surface thereof about a recessed portion of the exterior surface and back to the interior thereof to hold the weight close to the user's body. The interior and exterior recesses of the weight allow for close conformity of the belt to the weight and the weight to the user's body. The weight is shaped with a radius on all mating surfaces to facilitate dipping and coating of the weight with a vinyl material. The vinyl material provides and is selected to provide a matte finish to the entire exterior surfaces of the weight, including the slot surfaces. The matte finish substantially eliminates the appearance disfiguration as compared to smoothly coated weights.
Peterson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,965, discloses an improved scuba weight that has a hex-nut locking device molded into the weight. The hex-nut locking device secures the weight to a diver's belt, but can be easily loosened, permitting the casting off of the weight, including in underwater operations, if desired.
Eylander, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,575, discloses a weight belt made from a sheet of flexible material that has two strips of material over one face and is joined by stitched seams to form a number of pockets side-by-side, the pockets containing plates of lead, and being closed by further folding of the sheet to bring the pockets face to face, where they are retained by touch-and-hold material. They can be lifted away for adding or reducing the number of lead plates. Access to some of the plates can be provided to allow removal or replacement without necessarily removing the belt.
Anastasi, U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,502, discloses a disc-shaped weight that includes a circular opening in the center and a pair of diametrically opposed, elongated oval openings disposed parallel to one another and equidistant from the circular opening. The oval openings are positioned in the disc-shaped weight so that the fingers and thumb of a human hand may be disposed through the openings for sufficient gripping of the weight. The distance between the outer periphery of the elongated side of either opening, proximal to the outer periphery of the disc member, is dimensioned so that the fingers of a human hand can be disposed through the desired opening and the thumb can be wrapped around the outer periphery of the weight, for sufficient gripping of the weight. The periphery of the elongated oval openings and outer periphery of the weight is rounded to aid in gripping of the weight.
Bortner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,640, discloses a weight drop pocket for a scuba diver that contains a flap closed pocket for containing a weight, with a stiffener secured to the pocket. The pocked has an opening through which a projection from a mating element secured to a skin diver apparatus may be inserted with the pocket and the mating element retained in a pre-selected orientation and held in place by a spring biased rod inserted through the projection thereby locking it to the mating element until the rod is withdrawn by a force which overcomes the spring bias.
Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,450, discloses a buoyancy compensator for a scuba diver vest that has a pocket on each side of the front of the vest, and a weight module removably positioned in each pocket. Each weight module includes an envelope releasably mounted in the pocket, a weight packet carried within the envelope, a weight removably mounted in the envelope, a strap operatively connected to the envelope and releasably connected to the vest. The weight is dropped from the weight packet by pulling the weight packet from the pocket and the envelope is returned to the pocket by a pair of elastic bands.
Garofalo, U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,913, discloses a hydrostatic balancing jacket that includes a coupling between at least one of the jacket walls and one ballast. The coupling includes complementary coupling elements reciprocally movable on the jacket wall and on the ballast, and a locking structure for the coupling.
Urabe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,370, disclose a buoyancy compensating jacket with a waist portion having a pocket with a first flap, a pouch having a flat cord adapted to be inserted into and taken out from the pocket with a weight packed into the pouch. As a guide means for the flat cord, at least one of a substantially C-shaped guide ring provided at a distal end of the first flap substantially in the vertically middle and a groove formed on an outer surface of the pocket and/or an inner surface of the first flap substantially in the vertically middle.
The related art described above discloses various diving weights, diving belts, ballast systems and buoyancy compensating jackets. However, the prior art fails to disclose a diving weight with an aperture specifically having an aperture with a width for receiving two fingers of a grown persons hand, a diving pocket and vest therefor. The prior art also fails to teach a curved weight that conforms to the diver's torso for improved convenience and safety as will be defined and shown herein. The present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following summary.